Category: True Crime

This is a true account of life in Alcatraz prison written by William G. Baker 1259AZ, a former prisoner of Alcatraz. This is how we lived, what we thought and said and did, the good and the bad. This is the true story of Alcatraz.
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In the tradition of "The Orchid Thief," a compelling narrative set within the strange and genteel world of rare-book collecting: the true story of an infamous book thief, his victims, and the man determined to catch him. Rare-book theft is even more widespread than fine-art theft. Most thieves, of course, steal for profit. John Charles Gilkey steals purely for the love of books. In an attempt to understand him better, journalist Allison Hoover Bartlett plunged herself into the world of book lust and discovered just how dangerous it can be. Gilkey is an obsessed, unrepentant book thie...View More...

In the tradition of "The Orchid Thief," a compelling narrative set within the strange and genteel world of rare-book collecting: the true story of an infamous book thief, his victims, and the man determined to catch him. Rare-book theft is even more widespread than fine-art theft. Most thieves, of course, steal for profit. John Charles Gilkey steals purely for the love of books. In an attempt to understand him better, journalist Allison Hoover Bartlett plunged herself into the world of book lust and discovered just how dangerous it can be. John Gilkey is an obsessed, unrepentant book...View More...

There is no scientist in the world like Dr. Bill Bass. A pioneer in forensic anthropology, Bass created the world's first laboratory dedicated to the study of human decomposition--three acres of land on a hillside in Tennessee where human bodies are left to the elements. His research at "the Body Farm" has revolutionized forensic science, helping police crack cold cases and pinpoint time of death. But during a forensics career that spans half a century, Bass and his work have ranged far beyond the gates of the Body Farm. In this riveting book, the bone sleuth explores the rise of modern for...View More...

Twelve years ago, "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" exploded into a monumental success, residing a record-breaking four years on the "New York Times" bestseller list (longer than any work of fiction or nonfiction had before) and turning John Berendt into a household name. "The City of Falling Angels" is Berendt's first book since "Midnight," and it immediately reminds one what all the fuss was about. Turning to the magic, mystery, and decadence of Venice, Berendt gradually reveals the truth behind a sensational fire that in 1996 destroyed the historic Fenice opera house. Encountering a...View More...

Do or Die is the first insider account of teenage gangs--the lives, loves, and battles of children who kill--from the only journalist ever allowed inside this closed and dangerous world. This is no West Side Story. Welcome to a world where teenagers wear colostomy bags and have scrapbooks filled with funeral invitations; where a young man, after being shot in the chest, drives himself to the hospital; where another youngster, caught in crossfire, uses his girlfriend as a human shield; where teenage gangsters are kidnapped, tortured, and held for six-figure ransoms; where kids hum the lat...View More...

"Notorious New Jersey" is the definitive guide to murder, mayhem, the mob, and corruption in the Garden State. With tabloid punch, Jon Blackwell tells riveting accounts of Alexander Hamilton falling mortally wounded on the dueling grounds of Weehawken; Dutch Schultz getting pumped full of lead in the men's room of the Palace Chop House in Newark; and a gang of Islamic terrorists in Jersey City mixing the witch's brew of explosives that became the first bomb to rock the World Trade Center. Along with these dramatic stories are tales of lesser-known oddities, such as the nineteenth-century murde...View More...

Rene "Boxer" Enriquez grew up in East L.A., where gang fights and drive-by shootings were everyday occurrences fueled by rage, drugs, and alcohol. Sent to prison at nineteen, he was recruited by La Eme, the near-mythic Mexican Mafia, arguably the most well-armed and dangerous gang in American history. A young man without fear who would kill without hesitation, Enriquez's loyalty and iron will drove him quickly up the ranks, from mob enforcer to the upper echelons, where he would help rule for nearly two decades. Seeking respect, he devoted his life to a bloody cause, only to find betrayal a...View More...

Equal parts true crime, twentieth-century history, and science thriller, "The Poisoner's Handbook" is "a vicious, page-turning story that reads more like Raymond Chandler than Madame Curie" ("The New York Observer") A fascinating Jazz Age tale of chemistry and detection, poison and murder, "The Poisoner's Handbook" is a page-turning account of a forgotten era. In early twentieth-century New York, poisons offered an easy path to the perfect crime. Science had no place in the Tammany Hall-controlled coroner's office, and corruption ran rampant. However, with the appointment of chief medical...View More...

Even before he was shot dead on the stairway of the tony Grand Central Hotel in 1872, financier James "Jubilee Jim" Fisk, Jr., was a notorious New York City figure. From his audacious attempt to corner the gold market in 1869 to his battle for control of the geographically crucial Erie Railroad, Fisk was a flamboyant exemplar of a new financial era marked by volatile fortunes and unprecedented greed and corruption. But it was his scandalously open affair with a showgirl named Josie Mansfield that ultimately led to his demise. In this riveting short history--the first in his American Por...View More...

Of course Pulitzer Prize winner Jimmy Breslin recognized Burton Kaplan right away as the Mafia witness of the ages. Breslin comes from the same Queens streets as mob bosses John Gotti and Vito Genovese. But even they couldn't match Kaplan in crime--and neither could anybody else. In his inimitable New York voice, Breslin, "the city's steadiest and most accurate chronicler" (Tom Robbins, Village Voice), gives us a look through the keyhole at the people and places that define the mafia--characters like Sammy "The Bull" Gravano, Gaspipe Casso (named for his weapon of choice), Thomas "Three-...View More...